Biscuits Success

I've never made good homemade biscuits and after watching a couple of seasoned biscuit makers make them who gave me some tips, I've just always wanted to be able to make them right.  Recently I watched a Trisha Yearwood show on Food Network where she made her Daddy's Biscuits.  Her show is on right after Pioneer Woman on Sat. mornings.  I really like both shows.  That got me in the mood to try them again so I picked up an 8 oz. container of buttermilk at the store and printed Trisha's recipe.  

Bill's family tells the story of some biscuits that his mom made once that were really hard.  They gave a couple to the dog who tried to bite into one and proceeded to go drop it in his water bowl to try to soften it up!  Too funny!

Today was the day to try again so I would get the buttermilk used before it expired. How many times have you bought something special like that and didn't get the recipe made before it expired?  Hate that.   My biscuits actually turned out pretty good except I think they needed a little more salt.  Or, we're just used to the canned ones I'm afraid.  Kind of like so many people now that only want "box" macaroni and cheese instead of homemade, canned frosting and spaghetti sauce from a jar to name a few. 

The key seems to be to only gently knead the dough 3-4 times and then pat it out, leaving it pretty thick before cutting them out.

Good height and color

fluffy

We had a rain/sleet mix during the night and have some puddles standing.  Gloomy day.  Oh well, we need to finish our taxes anyway.   

Home Again

I got back from Iowa City Mon. night.  Had a good day to drive home.  A couple days before I left to go to Iowa City last week, there was snow and ice over that way so along Hwy. 380 heading south I lost count at 20 cars and semis that were still off the road.  There had been a towing ban for a while.  So it was nice for me to have sunny, dry pavement for both going there and driving home.

Our friends got to come home yesterday.  They had appointments while there and Todd had radiation treatments.  Today they're finding out about chemo.  It's definitely a very emotional roller coaster and as Terri says, life has changed for them. 

I had taken my laptop with me but the hotel's Wi-Fi connection was very slow so I didn't even try to do blog posts.  I couldn't even send e mails.  I was glad I could with my phone.  

While there and in a Hy-Vee grocery, I was looking at their flowers to see what I might like to pick up for their room and happened to see these adorable "Pick Me Up" bouquets made in a votive candle holder for the vase!!  I wish these were available everywhere!  They're just the perfect little size and really all that is needed.  I sure don't know how they do them for only $5!   

the one I got them - so cute!!

a lotta shrimp!

I stopped in the store on my way out of town to pick up another bouquet that I ended up giving to Terri's mom, and saw this HUGE pile of shrimp!  Everyone was shopping for Super Bowl.  The guy there told me this was 100 lbs.!

Terri is in P.E.O. with me and another one of our friends/P.E.O. members came to Iowa City to help out too if needed.  Sandy was able to stay with her daughter who goes to University of Iowa.  She came home yesterday as our friends were traveling home.  This morning she dropped this one off for me! 

My peaceful river view from my hotel room.

We still have overhead door guys working on the shed but they should get done today.        

Sad Times . . .

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am in Iowa City with my friend Terri and her husband Todd.  He recently found out that he has cancer.  I've been told that they are being taken care of at one of the best hospitals there is.  They've been able to be together at the hotel this weekend and get some rest.  They have an important appointment early tomorrow morning and prayers for them are appreciated.

Meanwhile, while I'm gone, Bill is still playing with electricity in the new shed and making sure Bambi doesn't tear up any more of our new trees.  The overhead door guys should get finished tomorrow. 

Shed Doors Progress

We've had mostly gloomy days lately.   We still have some snow left.   Des Moines and eastern Iowa are supposed to get several inches of snow tonight.  We have wind. 

View from the house.

East side door.

South door.

They're still working on getting the doors up on the shed.  Looking good!  Bill is still taking advantage of using their lift while it's here to work up in the attic getting wiring done and lights up.  Notice the small square that he goes up through!

You can see the lights in this picture.

Ceiling of the shed.  The "hole" Bill goes through to work above.

The power company is moving the service entrance for the house and shed, so while they are at it, they're replacing some of the very old power line and poles along the road with new poles!    Between new line, poles and a generator we should be set!

New poles being put up.

I took the Enclave to the dealer in Algona for gas gauge repair again.  They said it would take a few hours so they gave me a loaner car.  I stopped at the grocery and came home and fixed lunch (pork chops, baked sweet potato, fresh fruit salad and slices of pie I had picked up).  Got a call at 1:00 that it was done already so back I went!   

Winter Trip

Tonight I downloaded pictures I took in Florida and hardly know where to start for blog posts so thought I'd just post a variety tonight for starters.  

We were in Orlando for about six days for Stampin' Up!'s 25th Anniversary Leadership Conference.  One of my downline from Carmel went with her husband so he and Bill went to Epcot the first day of our conference and had a good time together.  They went to Bass Pro the next day and had a nice meal out at Tony Roma's.  The street our hotel was on was a convenient walk to the convention center and also on a trolley line so that made it handy to go places.

The first day when we arrived, Bill and I hopped on the trolley to see what was where and saw this huge, two story McDonald's.  We stopped there for some of their sweet tea and found that this one sells pizza and others things we hadn't seen on the menu at McDonald's before.  The top floor had a game room.

 The next day Debbie and I registered for the conference.  I had not been to any Stampin' Up! events for about four years so it was fun to see lots of friends from all over the U.S. that I haven't seen for a while.

It's always nice to see palm trees and other pretty plants and scenery in Florida not to mention the warm, short shirt sleeve weather!  We were lucky that Orlando was actually warm and nice this time.  It can be really cold that far north in Florida in winter.

I'm Back!

Bill and I flew down to Orlando so I could go to a Stampin' Up! Leadership Conference.  Afterwards, he flew home and I flew down to Naples to spend a few days with my mom.  He picked me up at the Des Moines airport yesterday.  At least it's sunny here but about a 70 degree temperature difference!  We're supposed to have ice starting during the night tonight.  I'm hoping to be able to make it to church tomorrow.

I took pictures of different things we did both places and will get back to blogging probably tomorrow.  Today I get to babysit a very cute little two year old great niece while her sister and mom do something special for her sister's 8th birthday!  

I didn't take my laptop with me because we didn't know if there would be a big enough safe in the room to leave it in the room during the day in Orlando (there was) and didn't know if there would be WiFi connection at the condo (there was).

For the stampers out there reading this, Sale-A-Bration is now in full swing!  Get a nice free product with every $50 purchase!  Please go to my web site www.CindyKemna.stampinup.net to see the NEW Spring catalog and Sale-A-Bration flyer along with the main catalog and to order 24/7 at your convenience!